Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, July 03, 2017

07/03 Links Pt2: Modi's historic visit celebrates 2500 years of Hindu-Jewish ties; Anti-Semitism Is Creeping Into Progressivism

From Ian:

No One Does Anti-Israel Bias Quite Like the U.N.

Unsurprisingly, Falk is equally fixated on the supposed crimes of the Jews. In a blog post about the Boston Marathon bombings — he seizes every opportunity he can get — he repeated the old canard that Israelis control American foreign policy and insist on war. “The war drums are beating at this moment in relation to both North Korea and Iran,” he wrote, “and as long as Tel Aviv has the compliant ear of the American political establishment, those who wish for peace and justice in the world should not rest easy.”
For those who refuse to see the meaning or history behind portraying a global power as “compliant” to the Jewish state, Falk goes further. He has vulgarly compared the Israeli government to the Nazis: “Is it an irresponsible overstatement to associate the treatment of Palestinians with this criminalized Nazi record of collective atrocity? I think not.” And he once wrote an article entitled: “Slouching toward a Palestinian Holocaust.”
You read that right: The man who for six years investigated Israel on behalf of the international community sees the Jews as the Nazis and the Palestinians as the Jews of Germany. The realization that Falk was probably appointed to investigate Israel not in spite of these views but because of them helps explain why the U.N. treats Israel the way it does.
Back in 2011, when he was still the sitting U.N. special rapporteur, Falk chose to write a blurb in praise of the anti-Semitic book The Wandering Who, by (ethnically Jewish) holocaust denier Gilad Atzmon. Atzmon writes in the book that “The history of Jewish persecution is a myth, and if there was any persecution the Jews brought it on themselves.” The book calls the credit crunch the “Zio-punch” and blames the media, which “failed to warn the American people of the enemy within.” Falk’s blurb, placed on the book’s front cover, calls the work “a transformative story told with unflinching integrity that all [especially Jews] who care about peace, as well as their own identity, should not only read, but reflect upon and discuss widely.”
With U.N. officials like that, the “Israeli apartheid,” and “ethnic cleansing” reports almost seem to write themselves.

Ben-Dror Yemini: Breaking the silence deserves Israel Prize for manipulation

Op-ed: The organization’s director says soldiers’ testimonies of war crimes are not being investigated. But when the Military Advocate General wanted to investigate the few testimonies that do point to a suspected offense, Breaking the Silence demanded protection of sources.
Breaking the Silence director Yuli Novak is furious about the investigation against the organization’s spokesperson, Dean Issacharof, who stated that he had committed a war crime of beating a Palestinian until he bled. Why is he being interrogated of all people, Novak complained. There are, after all, hundreds of other testimonies.
I checked the “testimonies” Novak was referring to. And not just any testimonies, but the department of “selected testimonies,” which are supposed to be the most serious and severe ones. One of the testimonies deals with a three-year-old toddler who was left under the bed during a search using live ammunition. He wasn’t hurt. “We were shocked by it,” said the soldier who gave the testimony, adding that “it emphasized the procedures.” It’s definitely unpleasant and definitely sad, yet I had trouble understanding where the crime was and what exactly should have been investigated.
I went on to another testimony, which claims that the IDF ignored the ban on using the “neighbor procedure” (the use of non-combatant Palestinian neighbors and relatives to help arrest wanted suspects). It’s unclear when the incident happened, as an interim order was issued against the procedure in August 2002, and the High Court ruled against the procedure in 2005. But the claim that the IDF ignored the order is slightly odd. In 2007, for example, the Military Police conducted an investigation against Major-General Yair Golan, who served as deputy Judea and Samaria Division commander at the time, for violating the ban on the “neighbor procedure.”

Jonathan A. Greenblatt (ADL): Anti-Semitism Is Creeping Into Progressivism

And regarding the LGBTQ community, we were proud to stand against discrimination of HIV/AIDS patients decades ago and, more recently, to champion marriage equality. We continue to fight housing and workplace discrimination targeting people based on who they love or how they self-identify their gender. And while great progress has been made in recent years, we continue to resist efforts to turn back the clock under the guise of religious freedom.
On the other hand, when hatred comes from individuals in those very communities or organizations for whom we advocate, we are duty bound to raise our voice. In recent times, anger over specific policies of the Israeli government has been used by some activists to excuse broad anti-Semitism directed at members of the Jewish community. In some cases, we have seen painful rhetoric unfold on college campuses or outright exclusion of self-identified Jews from progressive circles simply because of their faith. All of it is inexcusable.
At ADL, we work with various communities not only because it is the moral thing to do but also because our freedoms are bound to theirs. That said, even as we fight alongside other groups on issues of mutual concern, we should not sacrifice our principles, and we will forcefully denounce those who would slander our community and resort to stereotypes.
This does not mean we need absolute ideological alignment with every prospective partner. But it does mean that we need to draw lines in a clear manner — and demand that our allies observe those fundamental values that we also seek to live by: equality, fairness and respect for all.

Malaysian op-ed says BDS movement is tanking

An op-ed in Asian Correspondent from Malaysia talks about the effectiveness of consumer boycotts:

THERE is no denying the fact Malaysians are very passionate. We will commit and dedicate ourselves to whatever social affair or issue we feel passionate about, such as the Palestinian-Israel issue, the ISIS issue, even the Rohingya refugee crisis.

But the commitment hardly ever lasts.

Remember two years ago in 2014 when emotions against the Zionist movement and oppression towards Palestinians by Israel was at an all-time high? There were protests and calls for the boycott of Jewish-linked businesses such as McDonald’s, Starbucks and the like.

How long did the boycott last? Obviously not very long. Everyone was so angry in the beginning. They took to the streets with their banners and scarves. And yes, they did boycott the franchises, for a week or two maybe. But then it was Big Macs and Latte Grandes all over again.

Today, there seems to be yet another call to boycott these franchises.

But this time, it isn’t an issue related to the Zionists. The Malay nationalist group Perkasa wants Malay Muslims here to boycott coffee chain Starbucks, purportedly because the company supports marriage equality and LGBT rights in the US.

The writer goes on to say that the chances of such a boycott accomplishing anything are nil. But this part caught my eye:

And of course, there is the current BDS movement (Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions) that started in 2005 with the intention of isolating Israel due to their stand on Palestine.

But again, a very different story (the movement isn’t doing too well either).

IF BDS is perceived as being ineffective even in anti-Israel Muslim countries like Malaysia, then the movement has already lost the non-Arab Islamic world.

Just as the Europeans need to catch up with the Gulf states on how unimportant the Palestinian issue really is, the people who think that BDS is making any inroads need to catch up with the fact that Israel's economy is the envy of the world. When Israel gets visits from the head of the nation that has some 180 million Muslims, more than almost any other, then the attempts to destroy Israel by delegitimizing it have truly failed.

As this author implies, the economy is what drives international relations more than anything else. As Israel grows economically, it cannot be considered vulnerable to today's boycotts any more than it was when the Arab nations boycotted the Jews in 1946.

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Legitimizing Temple denial in London (Petra Marquardt-Bigman)

By Petra Marquardt-Bigman

British Islamists are eagerly anticipating the “biggest-ever Palestine event in Europe”: a “Palestine Expo” that “will be held at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster [London] on 8 and 9 July.” The event is organized by “Friends of Al-Aqsa” (FOA); the group claims to be “a UK based non-profit making NGO concerned with defending the human rights of Palestinians and protecting the sacred al-Aqsa Sanctuary in Jerusalem.” A more honest description would have to mention that FOA founder and chair Ismail Patel is an ardent admirer of the terror group Hamas and that FOA likes to promote Holocaust deniers and Jew-haters. Moreover, FOA’s openly declared “aims and objectives” include “Emphasising the significance and the centrality of the al-Aqsa Mosque to the Islamic faith and the Muslim identity and re-affirming the Muslim historic and religious rights to the area” – and in case you’re wondering what exactly “the area” refers to, FOA is again rather honest about it: as they explain in their #HandsOffAlAqsa campaign,

“There is a common misconception that Masjid al-Aqsa refers specifically to the black/grey domed masjid within the al-Aqsa Sanctuary, however this is incorrect. Allah (swt) reminds us in the Holy Qur’an that He has blessed the land for us therefore according to Islamic teachings, ALL the buildings within al-Aqsa Sanctuary and the entirety of the land are sacred right down to every single grain of sand within it and when we refer to 'Masjid al-Aqsa' it is not to any of the specific buildings upon the land, but rather, the land itself upon which the Dome of the Rock and the black/grey domed masjid stand.”

Islamic supremacism in its by now all too familiar ruthlessness – after all, what FOA is doing is not so different from what the Taliban and ISIS have done when they destroyed ancient monuments of non-Islamic civilizations in areas under their control. True, the Jewish Temple was already destroyed when the jihadi armies led by the successors of Islam’s founder conquered Jerusalem and quickly moved to Islamify the site that remains Judaism’s most holiest and is also important to Christians. So what is left for Muslim supremacists to destroy on the Temple Mount doesn’t require explosives, but just the kind of ruthless propaganda and incitement that FOA employs in its despicable efforts to erase the Jewish history of the site.

Visitors of FOA’s “Palestine Expo” in London will apparently get a chance to enjoy this vile propaganda in the “Knowledge Village” where they can see “a virtual Al-Aqsa and learn all about the history of Al-Aqsa.” It’s unclear who finances the event, since the link for “Sponsors and Exhibitors” only leads to a PDF brochure that seeks sponsors and exhibitors, while the groups listed as “Supporters” include mostly anti-Israel activists and unions whose leaders have particular problems with the existence of the world’s only Jewish state.

On social media, FOA’s Twitter account has just some 19K followers; their Instagram account has some 31K followers, but their Facebook page has more than 500K “Likes” and followers.

Needless to say, FOA uses social media to incite against Jews and Israel with blatant lies and demonization, as illustrated in the following screenshots from Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter; note the antisemitic comments of FOA’s followers.

As I have repeatedly noted, the pernicious libel that Jews want to damage the Al-Aqsa mosque was first invented in the 1920s by Haj Amin al Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, who later gained notoriety as a Nazi collaborator; his successors now operate freely in Britain and are organizing a major event in a prominent location in central London. Anyone who participates in this event and supports it by visiting can proudly claim to have contributed to promoting the legacy of a man who was also once described as “Hitler of the Holy Land.” And as it happens, quite a few of the preachers who speak at Al-Aqsa and lead prayers there have fantasies that are rather Hitleresque – so let’s conclude with just one of the more recent examples. It’s not hard to imagine that the British Friends of Al-Aqsa greatly enjoy this kind of sermons privately, though for some reason, they’re apparently reluctant to share them with their fans…

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07/03 Links Pt1: Dear American Jews, Israelis don’t care that you’re insulted; PA re-erect Jenin terrorist memorial razed by IDF

From Ian:

Daniel Gordis: Dear American Jews, Israelis don’t care that you’re insulted

We’ve had a rough week, those of us who care about the American Jewish – Israel relationship. As in all relationships, rough patches are painful, but they are also opportunities to think anew, to understand better. That’s what I would like to try to do in this open (and admittedly rather lengthy) letter. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s shameful capitulation to the ultra-Orthodox on the Kotel and conversion issues actually affords us a valuable opportunity. For decades, the Jewish world has been struggling with what, precisely, should be the relationship between American Jews and Israel. Now, we’re primed to talk about it.
We’re not going to settle this issue now – the fraught relationship goes back almost a century. In 1920, Louis Brandeis and Chaim Weizmann had a now famous blowup about Zionist policy, following which Weizmann said, “There is no bridge between Washington and Pinsk.” In other words, we are very different at our cores – let’s not pretend otherwise. Jacob Blaustein (then the President of the American Jewish Committee) and David Ben-Gurion had another explosion in 1950, and their “agreement” was always tenuous at best. Leading American Jews were livid when Israel captured Adolf Eichmann and brought him to Jerusalem for trial. “Who made you the representative of the Jewish people,” they wanted to know. Eichmann, after all, had murdered Jews, not Israelis. He was party to genocide before Israel even existed, so by virtue of what right did Israel kidnap him and try him (and later, execute him)? Did Israel think it represented world Jewry?
There have been periods when Israel did claim to represent world Jewry. And there are other times, like this week, when it acts as if only its own citizens matter. Now is the time to try to figure some of this out.
It’s complicated, of course. On one hand, American Jews are not citizens of Israel, and do not – and should not – have a vote on most of Israel’s policies, domestic or foreign. There is a difference between being a citizen and not being a citizen. On the other hand, though, American Jews have long felt deeply connected to Israel. (That may be changing among the younger generation, but that is the subject of a different conversation. See a long exchange about that here.) You feel pride in Israel’s extraordinary accomplishments, worry when Israel faces frightening threats, and feel ashamed when Israel makes bad decisions.
And Israel, conversely, has no compunction about asking or telling you that you “must” support us. Israeli Prime Ministers have gone to American Jewry to advocate aliyah. Others have gone to raise money, both in times of crisis and at more placid moments. Still others have gone to rally the political troops, at the UN, in Congress or elsewhere. So American Jews are not citizens of Israel, but neither are you entirely non-citizens. Surely, you have a different status than even feverishly pro-Israel American Christian Evangelicals, do you not?
At the risk of annoying every single person who will read this column, I’d like to use this space to sketch some preliminary thoughts on how we might define this relationship. I realize that much of what will follow here will be controversial, and there are elements that I myself still struggle with. Still, I’d like to take a stab at defining ways in which we ought to think about this relationship, by discussing two examples of issues – one on which American Jews should not seek to determine Israel’s policy, and another on which they should – and how they should do it.

Angry US donor wants to issue ‘a wake-up call,’ isn’t planning to pull his Israel funding

Taking a break from his long Fourth of July weekend in the mountains of North Carolina, Isaac “Ike” Fisher, a member of the board of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), told The Times of Israel on Sunday that reports of the demise of his support for Israel have been greatly exaggerated.
The Florida real estate tycoon, a leading fundraiser in the Greater Miami Jewish Federation who is active in many Jewish philanthropies, was splashed on the front page of Yedioth Ahronoth on Sunday morning vowing to “suspend” all further financial support for Israel. This, in reaction to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s June 25 decision to “suspend” a long-negotiated January 2016 government decision which would have seen construction of a permanent pluralistic prayer pavilion, over which non-Orthodox Jewish leaders would have a share in oversight, in the southern section of Jerusalem’s Western Wall.
Fisher elaborated on Israeli Channel 2 on Sunday afternoon that he had spoken of “suspending” his philanthropy, rather than ending it, just as the Israeli government had “suspended” its original Western Wall commitment, and that he was reacting to the government moves in “language they understand.”
Speaking with The Times of Israel later on Sunday, Fisher said he used the term “suspend” to raise awareness of the dire consequences Israel would face in losing the support of the Diaspora. “I am trying to speak in the language of the politicians: They suspended this agreement and I said I was suspending my support,” he explained.
Having spoken out, he said, however, he was not planning any next step.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: Mohammad Dahlan, the New Mayor of the Gaza Strip?

The "understandings" reached between Dahlan and Hamas may help alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and pave the way for improving the economy. However, the biggest winner will be Hamas, which is not being required to make any meaningful concessions other than allowing Dahlan and his loyalists back into the Gaza Strip.
Dahlan will be functioning under the watchful eye of Hamas, which will remain the real de facto and unchallenged ruler of the Gaza Strip. Hamas is willing to allow Dahlan to return to the Palestinian political scene through the Gaza Strip window. But he will be on a very short leash.
Dahlan's presence in the Gaza Strip will not deter Hamas from continuing with its preparations for another war with Israel.
Hamas is not going to stop digging tunnels along the border with Israel for fear of Dahlan. He will likely enjoy extensive civilian powers, but security matters will remain in the hands of Hamas and its military wing, Ezaddin al-Qassam.
Dahlan will find himself playing the role of fundraiser for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip while Hamas hides behind his formidable political shoulders.
This new reality could buy quiet in the short term. In the long term, however, Hamas is likely to emerge as stronger and more prepared for the next war with Israel.
For Dahlan and Hamas, it's win-win. No wonder, then, that Abbas and his friends in the West Bank are angry and anxious.
The unholy alliance between Dahlan and Hamas, in their view, is nothing less than an attempt to establish a separate Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip.
The international audience might wish to take note: it is now official -- the division between the West Bank and Gaza Strip marks the end of the so-called two-state solution. On the Palestinian street, it appears that the Palestinians are closer than ever to achieving two separate entities of their own -- one that is run by Abbas's Palestinian Authority and another controlled by Hamas and Dahlan.

The recent outrage against Jewish participants at Chicago’s “Dyke March” got me thinking back to this quote from Robin Sheperd’s State Beyond the Pale that clearly spells out the totalizing awfulness represented by the anti-Israel agenda of which BDS is a part:

“Whatever it touches, the anti-Israel agenda always brings out the worst. It brings out the worst in journalists who cast aside their principles of balance and objectivity. It brings out the worst in seasoned commentators who substitute hysteria and foot stomping for calm analysis and enlightened discussion.

It brings out the worst in trade unions which put a hateful agenda above the interest of their members. It brings out the worst in diplomats who debase themselves by pandering to tyrannies against a democracy. It brings out the worst in artists and writers who submerge their commitment to beauty and truth in ugliness and lies. It brings out the worst of the great traditions of Left and Right which default back to their shabbiest instincts and their darkest prejudices.”

Focusing on the last few months when gay supporters of Israel have been subjected to harassment and threats, can we determine why the fight for gay rights is becoming the latest sacrificial victim to the all-devouring Moloch of anti-Israel animus?

Starting with the obvious, the yawning chasm between Israel’s and her foes (including the Palestinians) with regard to gay rights is so vast that BDSers claiming dominion over the entire Left end of the political spectrum must do something to neutralize the threat of someone pointing it out.

While their usual tactic of ignoring any virtue of the Jewish state and just hammering incessantly on its flaws (real or imagined) might work with some audiences, the shocking contrast between Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv and gays being thrown off tall buildings in Egypt and Iran is too gigantic to ignore out of existence.

And so they moved onto their next tactic to obscure reality, concocting a fake phenomenon called “Pinkwashing” which claims that any pro-gay policies of the Jewish state (and, more importantly, any mention of those policies by Israel’s supporters) is just a nefarious scheme to mask the true invidious nature of “The Occupation,” the only subject anyone is allowed to discuss (but only on the boycotter’s terms).

Creating such a distraction and getting people to embrace it, however, are two different things. So the current strategy of harassing and ostracizing Jews (regardless of their level of support for Israel) from “the movement” has become the enforcement mechanism to ensure the pointing finger never swerves from the Jewish state and the plight of gay people in the rest of the Middle East remains off the table for discussion.

Enforcement of ideological conformity requires ruthlessness on the part of those trying to create barricades around what can be legitimately discussed. It also requires that the community being taken over (in this case, the politically active gay community) be too weak or confused to do anything about it.

The means the ruthless use to achieve these ends involve creating or infiltrating a subset of the community being targeted (by creating “Queers for Palestine” style front groups) or infiltrating existing organizations and moving into positions of leadership with the sole purpose of subverting them towards the anti-Israel agenda. Once established, these forces can commit outrages like the one at the Chicago Dyke March, then defend their bigotry in the name of the entire community they claim to represent.

Much has been made about the language of “intersectionality” and “triggering” used to frame demands that Jews (and only Jews) leave the parade, but this simply shows how those amorphous concepts (presuming they ever meant much) are now simply tools for the ruthless to bully the reasonable.

Keep in mind that such a strategy can only work if the bulk of the people within the community being subverted do nothing. In fact, the boycotters count on majorities remaining indifferent, or at least not coming to the defense of Jewish members out of fear that they too will be swept up in a purge.

Fortunately, we have seen other communities (such as food coops and academic associations) where resoluteness by the rank and file immunized a group from being turned into yet another tool for anti-Israel propaganda. The health of those communities vs. the rot that accompanies those that succumb to the BDS virus demonstrates – once again – that willingness to fight on behalf of a tiny minority (Jews) is what separates a genuine movement for justice from one that subverts the language of justice for their own shabby instincts and dark prejudices.

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More Temple Mount insanity in Muslim media

From Pakistan Observer:

WHILE Muslims across the globe have observed the Al-Quds day on June 23, the Israeli institutions and organizations are reportedly awaiting the Netanyahu government’s go-ahead for the construction of a so-called ‘Third Temple’ in place of al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in the Israeli-occupied Jerusalem al-Quds. ‘Wall politics’ have been a part of the ongoing antagonism between ‘occupier and occupied’. Ironically, the Zionist-backed propaganda move is being covertly and overtly supported by Israeli premier’s cabinet ministers who harbour Jewish fundamentalism.
Since the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israeli governments in power— the Likud or Labour have been intermittently trying to divert the global attention from the simmering issue of Arab-Israeli conflict via propaganda or political treachery. Today, the Likud government under Netanyahu is sponsoring a Zionist project via propaganda strategy— under the Temple Movement— to build a third Temple in the Al-Aqsa compound.

You learn something new every day. I'm still unclear on how the Netanyahu government is blocking Jews from praying on the Temple Mount but planning to build a Temple there. But perhaps I'm not as tuned in to the zeitgeist as this Pakistani expert.

Meanwhile, Iranian media makes the normal Palestinian reporting of "fanatic settlers storming the Al Aqsa Mosque" seem tame:

Hordes of Zionist settlers, escorted by Israeli regime forces, stormed and desecrated al-Aqsa Mosque via the Maghareba Gate in the occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Before the sacrilegious incursion on Sunday, Israeli regime forces unlocked the Maghareba Gate and cordoned off the plazas of al-Aqsa Mosque.

The assault makes part of the morning break-in shift launched by fanatic Zionist settlers at 07:00 a.m. at holy al-Aqsa Mosque—the third holiest site in Islam.

Palestinian Islamic institutions have warned of Israeli regime's plots against al-Aqsa Mosque amid intensification of Zionist settlers' desecration of the holy Islamic site.

The Al Aqsa Mosque was never the third holiest site in Shi'a Islam. That is a very recent claim by Iran and it is entirely because of Israel.

The Iranian website helpfully provides a photo of the "hordes" of "fanatic Zionist settlers" "desecrating" and "storming" the suddenly "third holiest site."

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Anti-Israel bigotry infects the @ACLU

The director of the American Civil Liberties Union Human Rights Program, Jamil Dakwar, is an anti-Israel bigot.

A graduate of Tel Aviv University, he is a former Human Rights Watch lawyer and a former senior attorney for Adalah, a rabidly anti-Israel group that has lent its support to efforts to link Israel with apartheid and even once filed a petition, still on their site, falsely claiming that Israel was planning to bury hundreds of Palestinians supposedly killed in Jenin in mass graves.

Dakwar just posted this tweet, linking to an Al Jazeera anti-Israel propaganda piece:

The entire purpose of Herzl's modern Zionism is to provide a safe haven for persecuted Jews to go - but for Dakwar, this is unacceptable. Encouraging Jews to move to the Jewish state is, in his words, "exploit'ing' horrible acts of anti-semitism."

Yes, a person who is supposedly supportive of civil rights wants to take away the right of Jews to choose to move to the Jewish state when they are being attacked. Apparently, he prefers that they stay where they are and suffer.

Beyond that, his assertion that anti-Zionism is unrelated to antisemitism is another strange position for a human rights advocate to take. No one is saying that they are exactly the same, but to deny that much of the antisemitism in the world takes the form of anti-Zionism is to deny reality. Of course, the fact that the people who hide their hatred for Jews under the false pretense of caring being simply anti-Israel comes from the same political circles that Dakwar hangs out in may have something to do with his justification of left-wing anti-semitism.

Not to mention that to deny the Jewish people have a right to self determination (or to deny the there are a Jewish people altogether, which often goes hand in hand with this) is unquestioningly antisemitic. And this is a position that is appears that Jamil Dakwar holds.

Moreover, it is shocking that a "human rights" advocate cannot even consider that anti-Zionism as it is practiced today is inherently a denial of human rights. To deny Zionists the right to participate in left-wing causes, to deny their right to speak on campus, to create a hostile environment for them in various parts of the US and Europe are also violations of human rights. Yet the ACLU "human rights" division is silent on that violation of human rights for people who hold different political opinions than they do.

This is the opposite of human rights and it is disgusting that a person who is vehemently against the human rights of the vast majority of world Jewry represents the ACLU's human rights agenda.

(h/t Adam Levick)

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Some Libyan pols call for Jews to return

From the Libya Herald:

In a surprise move, a senior member of the so-called National Salvation Government of Khalifa Ghwell has announced that Libya’s Jewish community has the right to return as well as be compensated for any losses its members may have suffered.

The call was made by Mohamed Ali Triki, a top official in Ghwell’s “foreign ministry”, on Thursday at a three-day conference held on the Greek island of Rhodes. It was organised to mark the 50th anniversary of the last exodus of Jews from Libya as a result of the 1967 Six-Day War. Libya’s Jewish community was part of the national fabric, Triki was quoted as saying, adding that the national salvation government would enable them to return.

The right-to-return was supported by Omar Gawairi, the Beida-based government’s information chief, who was also attending.

Ghwell is reported today to have angrily denied reports that Triki was speaking on his behalf in Greece. He also claimed he had no prior knowledge of the Rhodes conference.

Announced three months ago and organised by Rafael Luzon, head of Libyan Jewry abroad, its aims was reconciliation between the exiled Libyan Jewish community and their original home country.

Although it was not officially supported by the Israeli government, one Israeli minister attended – Ayoob Qara, the Arab Druze politician who is minister of communications.

There are no thought to be almost no Jews left in Libya.

There was a minor uproar when Luzon tweeted that Ghwell had sent a message with Triki, which as this article said he vehemently denied. Ghwell reportedly threatened to sue Triki over speaking in his name without authority!

There are also some angry op-eds about this conference, justifying expelling the Jews out of Libya because of how Israel supposedly threatened Mecca and Medina during the Six Day War.

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Palestinians celebrate Naksa with a 100 meter (really 20 meter) flag in the Netherlands

Palestine Today reports "The longest Palestinian flag in Europe, with a length of 100 meters, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Naksa (setback of 1967) was unfurled at The Hague."

The accompanying video shows the flag being unfurled, in slow motion to some song.

It is clearly only 5 or 6 stories high, meaning this "100 meter" record-holding flag is only about 20 meters long.

Telling the truth is a problem for some people.

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07/02 Links: State to sue terrorists’ families for compensation; The Antisemitism of the so-called Jewish Voice for Peace

From Ian:

PMW: Abbas’ Fatah vows to rebuild terrorist monument in Jenin after Israel dismantled it

Palestinian Media Watch's recent exposure of the PA's new square in Jenin named after terrorist Khaled Nazzal who was responsible for the murders of 31 Israelis, among them 22 children, led to public protests by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and others. As a result, the mayor of Jenin briefly took down the monument in the square. However, only two days later, he changed his mind and put the monument up again. On Friday, the Israeli army entered Jenin and dismantled the terror-glorifying monument.
Now Abbas' Fatah Movement has pledged to restore it:
"It does not matter how many times the occupation removes the monument in memory of the Martyr - it is our obligation to rebuild it."
[Official Fatah Facebook page, June 30, 2017]
Fatah further announced that - as an act of solidarity with Jenin - a monument in honor of terrorist Nazzal has been placed by "young people" in Ramallah (See photo above). Fatah stressed that terrorist Nazzal "remains in our hearts, in our memory, in our squares, and in our streets":
Text on monument: "This is a monument in memory of Martyr (Shahid) Khaled Nazzal, which was established as a challenge to the occupation authorities
#The_Palestinian_people" [Official Fatah Facebook page, June 30, 2017]
Posted text: "An initiative of the young people in Ramallah; Khaled Nazzal remains in our hearts, in our memory, in our squares, and in our streets, and the monument will return to Jenin in order to serve as testimony to the period, to the history, and to a special kind of fighter"
[Official Fatah Facebook page, June 30, 2017]
Already a makeshift sign marked with the logo of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) has been set up in the square in Jenin where the monument stood, announcing the "Martyr Comrade Khaled Nazzal Square." Fatah posted a photo of it and its "inscription":

We Were Kicked Off Chicago's Dyke March For Not Being 'The Right Kind of Jew'

Anderson said she has been contemplating this very issue — and she is drawing upon the wisdom of one of America’s greatest LGBT equality leaders and icons, who also happened to be Jewish.
“Harvey Milk said, ‘Come out, come out, wherever you are,’” Anderson said. “I think for gay people, that has been the number one tool for changing hearts and minds. I think now is the time for progressive Jews to start doing that.”
Admittedly, it seems odd at best to think progressive Jews should “come out” in America. However, it is not about merely identifying ourselves but challenging stereotypes and expectations for how we must behave in our communities.
“People just have a very one-sided view of what it’s like to be Jewish in America and all the different views Jews can hold,” Anderson said. “I understand why people have been quiet. I have been quiet. But if we don’t speak, others dictate the conversation, and we get pushed out even more.”
Grauer is optimistic that, at the very least, the strong emotions surrounding the Chicago Dyke March will force an open discussion and, ideally, change.
“Hopefully, now that we have shared how we feel, how do we come together towards something better — whether it be a way we understand each other or the way we have relationships with Israel and Palestine and with people around these issues?" she said. "I would love to see us move towards something around those lines. It may be too soon for that to happen, but that’s where I would love to see this move. I think everyone — I would hope everyone — would, as well.”
For Grauer, it is “too soon to tell” if she would march in next year’s Dyke March. “I want to make sure that we’re marching together and accepting each other [and] our differences and recognizing that we’re here for a good reason together. If that’s the kind of Dyke March it turns into, that’s the kind of one, I’d be proud to walk in it.”
Anderson, on the other hand, was dubious she would join or, for that matter, feel secure at the next Dyke March. “I think I would feel physically unsafe if I came back with that same flag,” she said. “I think I would feel physically unsafe if I came back with anything short of a forehead tattoo that said ‘Israel is the worst thing that has ever existed’ — and I am not going to play that game. I should be able to be there as a Jew without passing a test.” (h/t Think of England)

Manifesto of an Outraged Queer

Laurie Grauer, one of the women forced to leave told the Windy City Times that the flag was “from my congregation which celebrates my queer Jewish identity, which I have done for over a decade marching in the Dyke March with the same flag.” She continued, “People asked me if I was a Zionist and I said ‘Yes, I do care about the state of Israel but I also believe in a two-state solution and an independent Palestine.”
It is unfortunate at best that members of the queer community are confusing the making of spaces threatening-free and comfortable with fascism, confusing political astuteness with tyranny. Who decides which individuals and groups are considered the “in groups” and the “out groups”? Who elected these organizers as the Thought Police?
No matter how the organizers attempt to frame the issues, this is anti-Jewish oppression plain and simple! Shame on them and those who supported their decision!

Jeremy Ben-Ami laughably claims that J-Street tries to strengthen ties between US Jews and Israel

Jeremy Ben Ami, leader of J-Street, was interviewed by Israeli TV. He said some whoppers like how much he respects Israeli democracy, but I found this exchange (starting around 4:00) to be interesting:

I just went through J-Street's site. Unless I missed something, I cannot find a single J-Street-sponsored mission to Israel that is intended to strengthen the ties between American Jews and Israel.

I cannot find any J-Street sponsored events to raise money for Israeli poor or handicapped or terror victims.

I cannot find any J-Street events that celebrate Israeli or Jewish culture.

I cannot find any J-Street -sponsored college lectures by Israelis on any topic besides criticizing Israel's policies.

It is difficult to find any articles that praise the Israeli government. For anything. (I found one that commends Netanyahu for supporting an Egyptian cease-fire proposal in the 2014 Gaza war, and another that supports his attempts to restore ties with Turkey. In contrast, there are hundreds of articles that attack the democratically elected Israeli government.)

Also, it is curious that for an organization that is supposedly only meant for Americans, there is am Israeli version of the site that talks about how J-Street tries to work with Israeli political lobbies that are against the Israeli government.

J-Street is not trying to preserve the relationship between American Jews and Israel. It is trying to destroy it by strengthening those American Jews (and non-Jews) who hate Israel and by attacking those American Jews who love Israel.

Ben-Ami is again shown to be a liar.

(h/t Yoel)

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On Thursday, PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said at the UN that “Hamas and the PFLP are not terrorist organizations,” calling Hamas a “Palestinian political party.”

Even Saudi Arabia has called Hamas a terror group. The UAE seems to agree. Pan-Arab media are calling Hamas a terror group. The US and EU consider it one as well.

On Saturday, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum thanked Erekat, saying "Saeb Erekat, in front of the United Nations, defended the legitimate Palestinian resistance and refused to consider both Hamas and the Popular Front terrorist organizations."

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for terrorists and their fans to dwell together in unity!

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EoZ censored by Sky Broadband

A couple of weeks ago, an EoZ reader mentioned to me that he couldn't reach my site through the UK's Sky Broadband.

I wrote to their technical support and received an answer on June 20:

Hi
Thanks for getting in touch
On initial inspection, the site is still categorised under the Dynamic and Blogging categories. So if this is the case, then no filters on the Broadband Shield would restrict this site.
I have asked our content list provider Symantec to review the site to make sure the category is correct. There is a possibility that malicious software was detected which would be filtered by the Broadband Shield under Phishing and Malware, but this may already be removed
Once I have a reply I will be back in touch
Kind regards
Brian Bolton
Service Excellence Consultant

This is the third time I have contacted Sky; I did it in 2015 and 2016 for similar issues and each time they claim that when they looked at EoZ it was categorized as "Dynamic and Blogging" and is accessible to all.

Then another person tweeted me the same thing yesterday, and included a screenshot showing that EoZ is blocked for "Weapons, Violence, Gore and Hate."

Moreover, the person who wrote to me says that Sky's documentation on how to change one's settings doesn't apply to him because his ISP was bought by Sky but he doesn't have a Sky account that allows him to edit these settings.

This means that anonymous, arbitrary people have the ability to censor websites they do not like by simply complaining to some ISPs without any fear of they themselves being exposed for their censorship attempts or even having to prove their claims.

This is very troublesome. And beyond that, Sky's insistence that this categorization is from Symantec does not seem to be true; Symantec's Norton website checker sees no problems with my site, but there may be another way that Symantec categorizes site. Yet Sky customers (and one other British ISP) are virtually the only ones who have mentioned this issue to me; Symantec filtering is used worldwide.

Sky customers can contact Sky technical support to complain at CRSupport@sky.uk.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

07/01 Links: Where Are the Moderate Muslims?; 2nd Projectile from Syria hits Israel - For 6th time in 1 week

From Ian:

Where Are the Moderate Muslims?

To many Muslims — especially radical Islamists — Jewish sovereignty in any part of the Holy Land is a red line that cannot be crossed. The mere existence of a Jewish State in the Middle East is totally unacceptable to their Islamic doctrine. As a consequence, Jews in Israel have been subjected to violence, murder and destruction. And until that doctrine undergoes reformation, the “religion of peace” will view the Jewish state as an unacceptable intruder in the Middle East.
This is the true heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was very prescient to demand that any peace agreement include the formal recognition of Israel as a Jewish state — because violence and war by internal and external Muslim terrorist organizations and by neighboring Muslim countries have remained an inescapable barrier to a final status peace agreement.
Israel has no choice but to protect its existence as the Jewish homeland, against all those who wish to destroy it. Genuine peace can only come after hostility from Islamists ends. Violence, incitement and anti-Jewish diatribes preached by Muslim and Palestinian leaders must stop.
Ultimately, the transition of Islam to a true religion of peace will end conflicts in Muslim societies, the Middle East and elsewhere. Shias and Sunnis will stop killing each other, and civil wars will end. ISIS will be defeated. And the Muslim world and local Arab leaders will formally accept the reality of the Jewish state of Israel.
We can hope that — in the near future — the influence of global communications, the internet and social networks can help trigger a 21st century Islamic reformation. In past centuries and millennia, Islam’s elder brethren — Judaism and Christianity — underwent significant reforms that helped lay the foundation of the modern world. The time has now come for Islam to become a genuine religion of peace.

Fred Maroun: Another anti-Semitic war is coming while the world again looks the other way

The overriding responsibility, however, rests with the terrorist regime of Iran which finances the Lebanese terrorists and supplies them with weapons. Although Hezbullah is very much a Lebanese organization that is motivated by its own hatred of Israel, it is also a proxy of Iran, and it would be far less dangerous without Iran, despite Hezbullah’s strong support among the Lebanese population. Iran, however, has a free hand in supporting Hezbullah. Iran is even considered somewhat respectable after it signed a nuclear deal with the US, the UK, France, China, Russia, and Germany.
Since the nuclear deal with Iran did not require that Iran stop supporting terrorism, all six nations that signed the deal also hold part of the responsibility for the impending war. Barack Obama, David Cameron, Francois Hollande, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel, and their governments did not try to stop the terrorist regime’s single-minded determination to attack the Jewish state, but chose the economic benefits of trade with Iran instead.
So-called peace groups indicate by their names a distaste for war; however, they are busy denouncing Israel, the country that would be at the receiving end of the war. Denouncing Hezbullah, the side that is itching for war, seems to be the furthest thing from their minds. Among those so-called peace groups are Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), CODEPINK: Women for Peace, and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which are listed by the Anti-Defamation League among the top ten anti-Israel organizations in the United States.
The United Nations Security Council stated in resolution 1701 that, “The clear path forward was by disarming and disbanding Hizbollah and other militias, as well as by Lebanon’s exercise of authority over all its territory”, but neither the United Nations nor its Security Council has done anything to enforce that direction. On the contrary. Since 2006, the UN General Assembly adopted numerous resolutions against the Jewish state (20 in 2016 alone), but not a single one against the Lebanese terrorists.

Primetime French TV Show Hosts Frank Discussion on Antisemitism in Wake of Sarah Halimi Murder

The issue of Traore’s motives was front and center during a recent panel discussion on the popular weekend TV talk show “On n’est pas couché” (“We’re not lying”).
The main guest was Michel Boujenah, a French Jewish actor and writer, who engaged in a sometimes emotional examination of Halimi’s murder with three other panelists and the show’s presenter, Laurent Ruquier.
On the subject of Traore, Halimi’s killer, Boujenah told the audience: “They said it was a mentally unstable person. But it was a mentally unstable person who chose his victim, who tortured her, insulted her with every antisemitic slur, and threw her out of the window.”
Boujenah, who was born in Tunis, continued: “He was crazy. But he was a crazy antisemite. There is no doubt about this question.”
Another panelist, Yann Moix, said that the silence around Sarah Halimi’s murder was reminiscent of the case of Ilan Halimi, no relation, the 23 year-old kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 2006 by an antisemitic gang who set out to find a Jewish victim in the belief that Jews were wealthy and therefore would pay a ransom demand.
Responding, Boujenah reflected, “We are 15 million Jews on this planet. There are a billion and a half Chinese. What did we do? What did we do that is so bad? To be hated in this manner. What did we do? I would like an explanation.”

06/30 Links Pt2: Phillips: Denial: the Labour Party's antisemitism; Glick: Who cares about Jewish unity?

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Denial: the Labour Party's antisemitism

David Hirsh’s must-see video, Whitewashed: Antisemitism in the Labour Party (which you can view below) starts with a truly shocking clip of Jeremy Corbyn speaking. Having referred to the profoundly anti-Jewish, murderous terrorist organisations Hezbollah and Hamas as his “friends”, he says (of either or both): “The idea that an organisation that is dedicated towards the good of the Palestinian people and bringing about long term peace and social justice, and political justice, in the whole region should be labelled a terrorist organisation by the British government is a big, big historical mistake”.
Hirsh’s film not only highlights examples of the antisemitism in the Labour party, but observes the appalling way in which Jews who draw attention to this are dismissed as “lying for Israel”. It states what so many on the left deny: that while in theory it is possible to be anti-Zionist but not anti-Jew, in practice the distinction is meaningless.
As one speaker observes, the Labour Party cannot call itself an anti-racist party if it denies the existence of left-wing antisemitism. Through interviews with Jewish people whose evidence to Baroness Chakrabarti’s vacuous “inquiry” into the issue was ignored, it shows how a report that was supposed to point to solutions to anti-Jewish attitudes in the party ended up as just another manifestation of the problem.

Former Senator Joseph Lieberman Speaks To The Daily Wire About The Left’s Anti-Semitism Problem

On Friday, The Daily Wire spoke with former Democratic vice presidential candidate and former Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman about the rising tide of anti-Semitism on the Left. Acknowledging the political divisions within the Democratic party itself following a contentious primary election battle between the centrist wing of the party, represented by Hillary Clinton, and the left-wing of the party, represented by Bernie Sanders, Lieberman suggested that the anti-Semitism on the Left is inherently intertwined with controversies surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“There are areas where there is a rising opposition [to Israel] but it’s not based on reality,” said Lieberman following a panel discussion in Paris about Iran’s expansionist policies.
But to Lieberman, this anti-Israel sentiment remains confined to the political fringes.
“I think America remains, by every public opinion poll I’ve seen, very pro-Israel,” he said.
When asked directly about the Bernie Sanders movement, and its disturbingly anti-Israel sentiments, Lieberman said he was hopeful about the future of the Democratic party’s relationship with Israel, however, it was impossible to deny that “an element” within the party had moved away from the American political establishment’s traditional bipartisan support for the Jewish State.
“I’m concerned about that,” said the former vice presidential candidate. “When I became active in politics the Democratic party [during the Kennedy era]” was very supportive of Israel.
But things have changed, noted Lieberman.

Caroline Glick: Who cares about Jewish unity?

But what was Netanyahu’s alternative? If the American Jewish community flies off the handle and declares war against the government, threatening to blackball the elected leaders of the Jewish state when they adopt measures that while impolite have little substantive effect on their positions, then why should Israel take their views into account? If everything that the government does is terrible, then dialogue is reduced to recrimination. Sitting with progressive Jewish leaders from America means being subjected to a lecture about how terrible Israel is by people who do not live here and are not interested in having a serious discussion about what is actually on the table.
The fact that they are not interested in having that sort of discussion, and that they have no interest in making Israel their home, is demonstrated by their indifference to the real implications of the draft conversion law. Leaders truly invested in the future of both their communities and of their communities’ ties with Israel would be appalled by the retention of monopoly control over conversions by rabbinic authorities who refuse to recognize the difference between children of intermarriage and non-Jews with no relation to Judaism and the Jewish people.
They would insist that religious-Zionist rabbis be reinstated in the state rabbinate, and work avidly to ensure that conversions once approved cannot be overturned.
The real problem here is that while everyone involved speaks of the need for Jewish unity, no one involved in the conversation seems to be motivated to work toward that goal.
Jewish unity isn’t achieved by mutual recrimination.
And it isn’t achieved by one-upmanship. It is achieved through compromise based on mutual respect and love for fellow Jews. Absent that, nothing good will come from negotiations or laws or agreements. Absent that, nothing good will come at all.